
Alphabet
Corprate Bias Ratings
Risk Level:
Summary:
Alphabet, the parent company of Google and its many subsidiaries, has demonstrated a willingness to censor a wide range of voices, mostly conservatives and Christians, on its platforms and police-protected speech in discriminatory ways. Google discriminates against conservative and religious nonprofits in its charitable policies and regularly uses its corporate reputation and funds to advance ideological causes. The company covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children. Google does not have viewpoint protections for its employees. For these reasons, Google receives a High Risk rating.
Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.
Google has a history of disproportionately censoring conservative ideas and messages. In 2021, the Google Play store removed the free-speech Parler social media app (1). In 2019, Google disbanded an advisory board because it included Kay Cole James, the former president of the Heritage Foundation (2). YouTube also has censored many conservative channels and videos like those of PragerU, the Heritage Foundation, and Live Action (3)(4)(5). In one instance, eyewitness accounts reported that Google subsidiary YouTube de-platformed an educational institution, Hillsdale College, by shutting down its livestream of an in-person and online event held to discuss the economic implications of the so-called “Great Reset.” In another instance, YouTube censored a panel discussion in which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and several renowned epidemiologists discussed the scientific studies regarding the efficacy of masking policies amongst children (6). Multiple employees have claimed viewpoint discrimination caused their terminations from Google, prompting Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to write a letter to the CEO of Google demanding answers to its various censorship of conservative voices and channels (7)(8). A few months later, a study found that Google sends Republican campaign emails to spam over 1.5x more than Democrat emails (9)(10). YouTube censored a talk from theologian Carl Trueman discussing the Christian view of sexuality for a “content violation” (11). Google terminated the Gmail account of Gays Against Groomers, “a coalition of gays against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children” (12)(13). After Giorgia Meloni became the new Prime Minister of Italy, YouTube took down a years-old video of the politician giving a speech criticizing “global elites” (14). A Google employee was fired after reporting sexual harassment claims to HR against a female executive; in the ongoing lawsuit, the plaintiff describes being told that he was fired for not being “inclusive,” being “ableist” by commenting on the walking paces of fellow employees, and that Google needed to fire a white man to make room for more women on the team (15). Google fired A.I. Researcher, Satrajit Chatterjee, for criticizing a published article featuring work from another team at Google (16).
Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.
Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.
Alphabet and Google do not protect their employees from viewpoint discrimination (1).
Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.
Google has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (1)(2). The company advocates for the Equality Act and transgender participation in female sports (3)(4). It also decided to corporately oppose Georgia’s voting integrity legislation and other states’ election reform laws (5). While still Executive Chairman at Google, former CEO Eric Schmidt served on the Democratic Victory Task Force (6). Google also implemented “antiracism” training that taught that all Americans are “raised to be racist” (7). Google opposed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits teaching gender identity and sexual orientation in schools to kids in K-3rd grade (8). Google Docs released an update in 2022 to suggest edits for “more inclusive” language on its Docs (9). Google opposed North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill” that forced people to use the bathroom of their biological gender (10). CEO Sundar Pichai is a member of the Business Roundtable (11).
Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
Google dissolved its charitable fund and gave all of its assets, over $40 million, to the far-left Tides Foundation, a progressive grant-making organization (1). It is also a Platinum Sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign (2). Google is also a member of many partisan organizations, both liberal and conservative (3). Google has run giving campaigns for Planned Parenthood (4). Alphabet also uses corporate funds to provide travel benefits for abortions (5). The company even offered to relocate employees who wanted to move states due to abortion restrictions (6). Alphabet pledged a combined total of over $300 million to the Black Lives Matter movement and related causes (7)(8). Google is a copper sponsor of Out & Equal and a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (9)(10).
Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.
Google contributes in a bipartisan manner consistent with its business interests (1).
All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
September 25, 2023
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Voting History
Date | ESG Category | Proponent | Summary of Resolution | Mgmt Rec | Total Vote % in Favor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
6/2/23 | Governance | NorthStar Asset Management | Equalize Shareholder Voting | Against | 30.70% |
6/2/23 | Social | National Center for Public Policy Research | Congruency Report on Partnerships with Global Organizations | Against | 0.40% |
6/2/23 | Governance | National Legal and Policy Center | Content Governance Report | Against | 0.60% |
6/2/23 | Governance | James McRitchie and Myra K. Young | Bylaw Amendments to Further Include Shareholders in Governance Practices | Against | 4.90% |
6/2/23 | Social | Arjuna Capital | Report on Expanding Abortion-Related Privacy Protections | Against | 7.00% |
6/2/23 | Governance | Harrington Investments, Inc. | Performance Review of the Audit and Compliance Committee | Against | 8.30% |
6/2/23 | Governance | John Chevedden | Require Executives to Retain More Stock | Against | 9.70% |
6/2/23 | Social | Missionary Oblates of Mary - United States Province | Report on Human Rights Assessment on Data Siting | Against | 13.00% |
6/2/23 | Environmental | Zevin Asset Management | Report on Climate Lobbying | Against | 14.10% |
6/2/23 | Social | Trillium Asset Management on behalf of John Hancock ESG Cap Core Fund | Report on Disclosure of Algorithmic Systems | Against | 17.00% |
6/2/23 | Governance | United Church Funds | Lobbying Report | Against | 17.70% |
6/2/23 | Social | Shareholder Association for Research and Education, on behalf of United Church of Canada Pension Plan | Human Rights Assessment of Targeted Advertisement Practices | Against | 17.80% |
6/2/23 | Social | Boston Common Asset Management | Report on Alignment of YouTube Policies with Legislation | Against | 17.90% |
6/1/22 | Social | National Legal and Policy Center | Report on Government Takedown Requests | Against | 0.40% |
6/1/22 | Environmental | Impax (Pax World) Asset Management | Report on Physical Risks of Climate Change | Against | 17.74% |
6/1/22 | Governance | Northstar Asset Management | Give Each Share an Equal Vote | Against | 33.16% |
6/1/22 | Social | Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge | Disclose More Quantitative and Qualitative Information on Algorithmic Systems | Against | 23.00% |
6/1/22 | Governance | SOC Investment Group | Adopt Policy on Non-Management Employee Representative Director | Against | 2.55% |
6/1/22 | Social | John Chevedden | Assessment of Company's Management of Misinformation and Disinformation Across Platforms | Against | 3.51% |
6/1/22 | Governance | Dale Wannen | Establishment of an Environmental Sustainability Board Committee | Against | 4.74% |
6/1/22 | Environmental | As You Sow | Report on Water Management Risks | Against | 22.54% |
6/1/22 | Governance | Arjuna Capital | Report on Steps to Improve Board Diversity | Against | 5.25% |
6/1/22 | Social | The Nathan Cummings Foundation | Racial Equity Audit | Against | 22.31% |
6/1/22 | Social | Trillium Asset Management | Report on External Costs of Misinformation and Impact on Diversified Shareholders | Against | 19.54% |
6/1/22 | Social | Sanford Lewis | Report Assessing Collaboration with Military and Militarized Policing Agencies | Against | 9.16% |
6/1/22 | Social | Boston Common Asset Management | Report on Lobbying Payments and Policy | Against | 18.94% |
6/1/22 | Social | Whistle Stop Capital | Report Risks Associated with Use of Concealment Clauses | Against | 11.95% |
6/1/22 | Social | Brandon Hardy | Report on Data Collection, Privacy, and Security | Against | 12.21% |
6/1/22 | Environmental | Zevin Asset Mgmt. | Report on Climate Lobbying | Against | 18.80% |
6/1/22 | Social | SumOfUs | Report on Risks of Doing Business in Countries with Significant Human Rights Concerns | Against | 16.99% |